Kinetic Aspects of Salting Tilapia Fillets Using Small Volumes of Brine Cinética da Salga de Filé de Tilápia Utilizando Pequenos Volumes de Salmoura
AUTORES AUTHORS M. L. MEDINA-VIVANCO Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Food Engineering, State University of Campinas, Departamento de Ingeniería Agroindustrial, Facultad de Ingeniería Agroindustrial, Universidad Nacional de San Martin, Jr. Maynas 179, Tarapoto, Perú
P. J. do A. SOBRAL Department of Food Engineering. Faculty of Zootechnology and Food Engineering, University of São Paulo, CEP 13635-900, Pirassununga, SP, Brasil.
M. D. HUBINGER Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Food Engineering, State University of Campinas, Cidade Universitária Zeferino Vaz, CEP 13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil. E-mail:
[email protected].
SUMMARY Salted tilapia fillet could provide a very good meat alternative for rural populations in tropical regions, where access to refrigeration is limited. Data on the behaviour of this low-fat meat fish during osmotic dehydration using small volumes of brine are scarce. Therefore, the changes occurring in water activity, moisture content, weight loss and sodium chloride uptake of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fillets, osmotically dehydrated in small volumes of brine, were studied. The influence of the initial brine concentration (20-26% NaCl w/w), the fillet/brine volume ratios, Vb/Vf, (3/1-5/1), and the temperature (10-20°C) on salting, were analysed. In addition, the equilibrium conditions were determined. Water activities, water contents and the sodium chloride concentrations were around 0.81-0.88, 0.62-0.71 g/g (w.b.) and 17.97-13.21 g/100 g (w.b.), respectively. The initial brine concentration and the fillet/brine volume ratio had a significant (p
